Preparing wool and other fibers eor spinning



'UNTTED sTATEs PATENT formes.-

WATERMAN SMITH, OF MANCHESTER, NEWv HAMPSHIRE.

PREPARING WOOL AND OTHER FIBERS FOR SPINNING.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 21,988, dated November 2, 1858.

To all 'whom 'it may concern:

` of Working Wool and other Fibrous Substances; and I do hereby declare that the same is described and represented in thel following specifications and drawings.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention and improvement,

`I will proceed to describe its construction and operation referring to the drawings in which the sameletters indicate like parts in each ofthe figures.

Figure l, is a plan of the machine. Fig. 2, is a sectional elevation.

The nature of my improvement in the process of working wool and other fibrous substances consists in heating the wool or fibrous substance, to make it soft and pliable, and drawing it while hot, to straighten and elongate the fibers or sliver of the fibrous materials worked while hot.

In the accompanying drawings A, A, are posts connected together by the bars B, B, and girders C, C, with rails D, D, fastened to the tops of the posts A, A, and connected at one end by the bar E, the whole forming a strong frame to support the other parts of the machine. The posts A, A, and the rails D, D, are perforated for the journals of the feed rollers a, a, to turn in between which rollers the sliver or slivers of wool enter and pass under the roller b, over o, under d, over e, under f, over g, and between the calender rollers h, 71 out of the machine, as shown in Fig. 2, of the drawing, and in the direction indicated by the arrows. The journals of the rollers c, e, and g, turn in boxes on the rails D, D, and the ournals of the rollers b, d, and f, turn in boxes fastened to the under side of the rails D, D, and these rails are perforated, for the journals of the lower calender roller it. The journals of the upper calender roller h, turn in boxes on the top of the rails D, D. These calender rollers and the feeding rollers may be pressed together withweights or springs if prefered. The feeding rollers a, a, are geared together at one end and one of their journals may be extended and a gear or pulley applied to it to operate the machine. The gear F, is fastened to the lower feeding roller a, and turnsthe gear G, and roller b,

moving its surface as fast or a little faster than the surface of the feeding roller. The gear Gr, turns the gear H, and roller c, about one-sixth faster than the roller is turned. The gear H, has twenty-five teeth and the gear I, on the opposite end of the roller c, has thirty teeth, and each of the rollers in the series has a gear of twenty five teeth at one end, by which it is turned or driven, and a gear of thirty teeth on the Opposite end, by which it drives the next roller in the series one-sixth faster than itself turns, except the roller g, which is the last in the series and only has the gear J, of twenty-five teeth by which it is turned, and also turns the gear K, and upper calendering or delivering roller 7L, so as to move its surface as fast or faster than the surface of the roller g, from which it receives and draws the woolpassing through the machine. The gear K, turns the gear L, and lower calendering roller L, which is the last in the series of gears.

The six large rollers are made hollow of copper, brass, or some metal that will not 'corrode and stain the wool, and one or both journals and may be packed in the manner well known to plumbers. The water formed in these rollers, by condensing the steam which'heats them, may be made to run out through the journals, by means of one or more scrolls of pipe arranged inside of the rollers, in a manner well known to artificers skilled in such work.

I have described my machine with six heated rollers, but it may be made with one, two, or such a number as may be prefered, and the feeding and calendering rollers may be heated also if desired.

I have described the rollers in my machine as being heated by steam which is the best way known to me to heat them, but they may be heated in such other manner as may be preferred by the operator. And the difference in the motion of the rollers is described as one sixth, but it may be made more or less as desired by varying the sizes of the gears.

I have worked wool on the above described machine to great advantage after it was carded, and before it is combed or gilled, and by substituting it in part for gilling; but it may be used at suoli stages of the manufacture as may be desirable, and in connection with carding, coinbing or lsuch other machines as can be worked in connec tion with it.

By heating the wool and drawing it While hot the fibers can be drawn straighter and' made longer than if they were not heated, and when drawn straight while hot and kept straight or extended until cool, by winding the sliver, they will remain so during the subsequent processes of manufacture unless curled by soinev means.` By drawing the wool sous to straighten the fibers as above mentioned the noil or short fibers are separated fronisthelong more easily and freely, and the long fibers being more perfectly straightened than they have ever been before by any process the yarn and goods made therefrom are far smoother and have 'a more silky appearance than any goods made from wool prior to my invention, which is of the greatest utility 1in making worsted yarns and stuffs. of every kind.-` After wool has been drawn on iny machine it canv be combed faster, easier and withfar morefacility than before.l 1

I contemplate that the wool'or Substances supplied by `Sonie athen device; .I contemplate that wool may be heated and drawn by 'nea'nsof a heated bar or bars, placed between a pair of feeding and delivering rollers, so

that the wool Amay be drawn against or between the hotbars and heated while it is being drawn. f I believe I have described' and represented my `invention so as yto enable any person skilled in the artfto-make and use thesanie. I will now state what 'Ipdesire' to secure by Letters Patent.

Iclainr-r 4In ithe processof drawing Wool and other fbroussubstances, heating the sliver. of wool or other substance andkeeping it hot while it is being drawn by passing 1.it over or `against and in contactwith heated surfaces either ymoving or stationary substantially as described for the purposes set. forth.

VATERMAN SMITH. lVitnesses:

E. M. UPLIFF, DAVID Cross. 

